Disney Wonder - Stay on Board or go to Nassau

[crufkahr]

My brother, his daughter/my niece, 11, and our niece (other brother's daughter), 21, will be on the Disney Wonder in July 2010.

 

We have all been to Nassau several times for actual land vacations and for my niece and I on cruises. Been there, done that, drank the tequila - oops I meant bought the t-shirt.

 

I've never stayed on board the ship while it was at port, but I know there are usually Spa Specials when it is in port and I would assume the pools are less crowded. I've heard many wonderful things about this ship.

 

Would you recommend we stay on board? We get to stop twice at Castaway Cay so we get plenty of beach/island time. All of us are very fortunate, even the 11 year old little punk, in that we have done lots of traveling so its not like its a once in a lifetime chance to visit a Caribbean Island.

 

It's my brother and his daughter's first cruise. I can't wait because I think she is going to LOVE the Ship because I hear there are lots of Disney Characters and the pool is fun - but crowded, and this is her first cruise.

 

I'm thinking they might enjoy staying on the ship that day. We do have 1 day at sea - the other two are at Castaway Cay.

 

What do you all think?

[gometros]

My brother, his daughter/my niece, 11, and our niece (other brother's daughter), 21, will be on the Disney Wonder in July 2010.

 

We have all been to Nassau several times for actual land vacations and for my niece and I on cruises. Been there, done that, drank the tequila - oops I meant bought the t-shirt.

 

I've never stayed on board the ship while it was at port, but I know there are usually Spa Specials when it is in port and I would assume the pools are less crowded. I've heard many wonderful things about this ship.

 

Would you recommend we stay on board? We get to stop twice at Castaway Cay so we get plenty of beach/island time. All of us are very fortunate, even the 11 year old little punk, in that we have done lots of traveling so its not like its a once in a lifetime chance to visit a Caribbean Island.

 

It's my brother and his daughter's first cruise. I can't wait because I think she is going to LOVE the Ship because I hear there are lots of Disney Characters and the pool is fun - but crowded, and this is her first cruise.

 

I'm thinking they might enjoy staying on the ship that day. We do have 1 day at sea - the other two are at Castaway Cay.

 

What do you all think?

 

On our cruise in Oct. 2008, we made an unscheduled stop in Nassau when Hurricane Omar kepts us from St. Thomas. Since I had been to Nassau a number of times, I opted to stay on board. I had the adult pool to myself. It was heavenly. And there are spa specials on port days. I say stay on board.

[Bloom9]

Another vote to stay onboard, i would not be disappointed if I never get back to Nassau! Can;t think of anything we enjoyed other than getting right back on the boat!

[doglover214]

Another vote to stay onboard. We just were on the 3 day on December 10th. We stayed onboard with 4 children ages 9,6,4,and 3. They all went to the camps and lvoed them. The 6 adults went to the pool and enjoyed the time immensely.

 

It was much quieter and we enjoyed it so much.

[DVC_Chris]

What I have noticed is that most passengers rush to get off the ship as soon as it docks. What you might want to do is commit to staying onboard at least for the morning, enjoy the empty pools and decks, and just relax. Then if you decide that you do not want to be 'cooped up' or want to do some shopping or whichever, then go out after lunch when people start trickling back in and things start crowding up.

[bbwex]

We were just there, and DW and I stayed aboard for awhile and then just wanted to walk a little bit around town. Surprisingly, most of the shops were closed -- someone said that is common on Mondays, someone else said that it was a holiday. We walked the to the end of the main street and came back. DGD was in the Oceaneers' Lab all day, and we spent the majority of the time reading on deck.

 

It is a two-minute walk to the shopping area, such as it is.

[shelbell77]

Mom and I are fans of staying on board sometimes when in port. She's been to Nassau several times and has already said she's staying on board when we are there on the Wonder in June. Its a nice peaceful day onboard when everyone else is in port!

[Ellusionz]

I don't think there's enough variety in cruise line excursions and booked one on my own. We did a snorkel tour with 3 stops. Two fishy areas and one where we snorkeled with sharks. I was too sick by the third one to get in the water with them. This tour was fantastic, I just recommend taking pills for those waves!

[Chenega]

I'd agree with the stay on the ship. There's plenty to explore and do and nothing in Nassau is a "don't miss" experience.

[NancyIL]

If you enjoy the pool and/or spa - you'll find things to do. I am not a pool/spa person, and the Wonder had very few adult activities on the ship until later in the afternoon while it was in Nassau. Good thing there was a movie I wanted to see at 1:00!

[Ellanora]

My son is 12, and we've visited Nassau before on Carnival and will again. On all three of our Disney cruises, we've stayed on board the ship in Nassau. My son really prefers it - we eat breakfast and spend the morning in the pool while it's not crowded because most people are on their exursions, then he handpicks which activities in the kid's club to go to during the day, and I hit the adult pool, or some other activity. It's nice to eat lunch poolside with him, go to family bingo later, then have dinner together. It's just a great day all around, and I highly recommend it.

[pppiglet]

I've never been to Nassau, but all the robberies they have had lately, I would be very afraid to do some of the excursions. I think I would just get off the ship and room around close by at the market for a bit and then go back to the ship. Disney and RCCL both had robberies on their Segway excursions. Very scary!

[jrbdad]

Taking our first ever cruise this coming May. A 3 night on the Wonder.

 

I was thinking of staying on-board as well. Given that we've never cruised and obviously never been to Nassau -- would we be missing anything?

[CaptainKevin]

Half the time we stay on the ship in Nassau, in order to enjoy the pools to ourselves (at least until the afternoon). And yes, for the spa.

 

We've also done a horse and carriage tour (they're just off the dock - bring cash and negotiate) which was fun and interesting, and the Pirate Museum, which is bigger than you'd think. And sometimes I just stop at the main shops to get a couple of souvenirs for the folks at home.

 

Depends on what the niece likes, I'd say.

[stsomewhere]

The character will wander around the ship in the morning. Mickey was playing ping pong with some off the kids.

Capt. Hook snuck up and scared me.

 

Minnie was making some friends at the adult pool